Refillable tissue holder and dispenser



Feb. 8, 1966 c. F. FARHA REFILLABLE TISSUE HOLDER AND DISPENSER Filed May 12, 1324 INVENTOR Came/l F. Fez/"ha flTTOPNfYS.

United States Patent Ofi ice Patented Feb. 8, 1966 3,233,777 REFILLABLE TISSUE HOLDER AND DISPENSER Camell F. Farha, 2209 Rivera, Wichita 11, Kans. Filed May 12, 1964, Ser. No. 366,812 6 Claims. (Cl. 221-45) This invention relates to a tissue dispenser for an automobile sun visor and has at its primary object the provision of a refillable tissue dispenser having adjustable strap means thereon whereby the dispenser may be used over and over again and it may be readily secured to support structures of different sizes, particularly the sun visor of an automobile.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a dispenser of the type described which is of one-piece construction so that it may be readily stamped and scored so as to be readily assembled without adding additional parts thereto.

A further object of the instant invention is the provision of a tissue dispenser which may be formed from a suitable vinyl material and which requires that only one joint be made between a pair of adjacent surfaces, whereby the dispenser may be readily assembled by the application of heat at the joint sufficient only to effect the bonding of the adjacent surfaces together.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the dispenser made pursuant to the concepts of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, cross-sectional view of the dispenser showing the adjustable strap thereon for mounting the dispenser on a supporting structure such as an automobile sun visor or the like; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the dispenser after the latter has been stamped from a sheet of material and scored to provide lines of weakness for bending the material into the shape of the dispenser illustrated in FIG. 1.

The tissue dispenser of this invention includes a box having a pair of front and rear sides, a pair of opposed end walls extending along and connected to proximal extremities of the front and rear sides, a bottom closing one end of the box, and a top closure member movable into and out of closing relationship to the open, opposite end of the box. The front side has an opening therein which permits access to the tissues in the box so that the tissues may be removed one-by-one or several at a time from the box.

A strap has one end integral with the bottom and has the opposite end received within a pair of slots in the rear side adjacent the top closure member. The strap "thus forms a loop by means of which the box may be mounted on a sun visor of an automobile. The length of the strap and. thereby the size of the loop may be varied so that the box may be readily adapted for use with sun visors of different sizes.

Tissue dispenser includes a box 12 having a mounting structure 14 secured thereto for mounting box 12 in a position so that tissues carried thereby may be dispensed therefrom.

Box 12 includes a front side 16, a rear side 18, a bottom spanning sides 16 and 18 as shown in FIG. 2, a pair of end walls 22 extending away from bottom 20 and along proximal longitudinal edges of sides 16 and 18, and a top closure member 24 hingedly secured to side 18 and disposed for movement into and out of closing relationship to the open, normally uppermost end of box 12. Closure member 24 has a tab 26 which engages the inner surface of side 16 when member 24 closes box 12. A recess 28 is provided in the upper edge of side 16 to facilitate the opening of box 12.

Side 16 is provided with an opening 30 therein which permits access to the tissues within box 12 so that the tissues may be removed from the box one-by-one or several at a time. Although opening 30 is illustrated as being rectangular in FIG. 1, it is clear that it may have any desired shape so long as tissues may be removed from box 12 therethrough.

As show in FIG. 2, side 18 is slightly longer than side 16 so that a first primary slot 32 may be formed at the lower extremity thereof for receiving one end 34 of an elongated strap 36 forming means 14. End 34 is integral with the proximal longitudinal edge of bottom 20.

Side 18 is provided with a pair of parallel, second primary slots 38 adjacent its upper extremity with slots 38 being substantially parallel with slot 32. As shown in FIG. 2, strap 36 extends upwardly from bottom 20 and passes through the upper of the slots 38 in box 12' and then out of the latter through the lower of slots 38. Strap 36 then extends downwardly along the outer surface of side 18 and is disposed within any one of a number of secondary slots 40 so as to extend once again into box 12. A tab 42 adjacent the reduced, opposite end 44 of strap 36 releasably maintains the latter in a predetermined slot 40 inasmuch as tab 42 extends in the opposite direction from end 44 along the inner surface of side 18. Thus, tab 42 will resist any tendency for end 44 to be removed from the corresponding slot 40.

To vary the size of the loop formed by strap 36, the effective length of the latter is varied and this is accomplished by removing end 44 from one of the slots 40 and placing it in another slot 40 corresponding to the desired size of the loop formed by strap 36. To do this, of course, end 44 will have to be urged further downwardly along the inner surface of side-18 until tab 42 clears the edge 46 defining the upper boundary of the corresponding slot 40. Then, tab 42 may be shifted until it is once again in the plane of strap 36 adjacent end 44 so as to permit the withdrawal of the latter from the corresponding slot.

In use, strap 36 is adjusted so as to define a loop of the required size and, with a quantity of tissues within box 12, and with closure member 24 in the position of FIG. 2, dispenser 10 is mounted on any suitable supporting structure such as the sun visor of an automobile. The tissues in box 12 will then be accessible inasmuch as opening 30 will be exposed when the sun visor is in the up position, the position in which it is normally disposed except for short intervals during the day.

Even though the sun visor is swung downwardly, the tissues in box 12 will not gravitate therefrom by virtue of the fact that closure member 24 closes the proximal end of the box and the tissues are generally too large to fall from box 12 through opening 30.

After the supply of tissues in box 12 is depleted, a new supply may be provided by merely opening closure member 24 and placing additional tissues therein. Box 12 may be refilled without removing it from its operative position on a sun visor.

Dispenser 10 may be utilized with sun visors of different widths by adjusting the effective length of strap 36. This is accomplished in the foregoing manner.

Dispenser 10 may be formed in any manner, but it has been found that the same may 'be of one-piece construction by virtue of the fact that it can be stamped from a single sheet of material and scored during the stamping process so that it may be folded or bent into the form thereof illustrated in FIG. 1. In this respect, FIG. 3 illustrates the configuration of dispenser 10 when the latter is in a flattened condition after it has been stamped and scored, but before it is folded along foldlines 48, 50, 52, 54, 56', 58, 60 and 62 to form the various parts of box 12 and to form strap 36. It is to be noted also that slots 32, 38 and 40. may be formed during the stamping process along with recess 28, opening 30 and tab 42. Dispenser 10 may be formed from any suitable material, such as cardboard or the like, but it has been found that it may be formed from a suitable plastic material, such as--a vinyl derivative so that it will have an attractive appearance when formed in the shape of FIG. 1. By using plastic, dispenser may be produced in different colors and also, the material can be heat-treated to seal any abutting adjacent surfaces to form box 12.

In this respect, it has been found that inasmuch as strap 36 is integral with bottom 20, the material of dispenser 10 need be bonded at only one joint, namely, the junction between one of the end walls 22 and the proximal longitudinal edge of rear side 18. This is due to the fact that bottom is integral with side 16 and closure member 24 is integral with rear side 18. A tab 64 integral with the corresponding end wall 22 is utilized for bonding the latter to rear side 18. In the event that cardboard is used, a suitable bonding material may be used to secure tab 64 to rear side 18.

The construction of dispenser 10 is such as to require only a single die for stamping all of the parts thereof and scoring the same in a single stroke. Dispenser 10 can be readily assembled and placed in use immediately after tab 64 is secured to rear side 18.

"For adapting dispenser 10 to the smaller visors of compact automobiles, strap 36 is scored intermediate its ends along an irregular, transverse line 66 having substantially the same configuration as the outer end edge of strap 36. An additional tab 68 is provided by scoring adjacent line 66. If dispenser 10 is to be used with a smaller visor, the outer end portion of strap 36 is removed along line 66 and thereby the length of strap 36 is shortened as needed.

Although dispenser 10 has been described for use with automobile sun visors, it is clear that its use is not to be restricted to such structures. Dispenser 10 may also be used on baby carriages and at various other locations, such as in the home, where it is convenient to have tissues ready for immediate use.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as newand desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A tissue dispenser comprising:

I a box provided with a pair of opposed sides and an open end, said box being adapted for receiving a number of tissues through the open end thereof, one of said sides having an opening therein permitting access to and removal of tissues in said box; and a strap secured at the ends thereof to the other of said sides to form a loop, said other side being provided with means adjustably securing one end of said strap thereto, whereby the effective length of the strap and thereby the size of the loop may be varied and the box may be removably mounted in an operative positionwhen said loop is disposed about a support. ing structure. 2. A tissue dispenser comprising:

a box provided with a pair of opposed sides and an open end, said box being adapted for receiving a number of tissues through the open end thereof, one

of said sides having an opening therein permitting access to and removal of tissues in said box; and

a strap secured at the ends thereof to the other of said sides to form a loop, said other side being provided with a first slot therein adjacent one extremity thereof one end of said strap being received within said slot, there being means releasably securing said strap in said slot whereby the box may be removably mounted in an operative position when said loop is disposed about a supporting structure.

'3. A tissue dispenser as set forth in claim 2, wherein said securing means includes a series of spaced secondary slots in said other side and a tab on said one end of the strap, said tab being releasably received in any one of said secondary slots and disposed to prevent the movement of said strap out of said first slot.

4. A tissue dispenser comprising:

a box provided with a pair of opposed sides, an open end, a bottom closing the end of said box opposed to said open end thereof, a pair of end walls extending between and along proximal extremities of said sides, and a closure member movable into and out of closing relationship to said open end, said bottom being integral with said one side, one of said end walls being integral with said sides, the other of said end walls being integral with said one end wall at the extremity thereof opposed to the extremity to which said one end wall is secured, said closure member being integral with said other side, and including means for securing said other end wall to said other side, said box being adapted for receiving a number of tissues through the open end thereof, one of said sides having an opening therein permitting access to and removal of tissues in said box; and

a strap integral with said bottom and secured at the ends thereof to the other of said sides to form a loop, whereby the box may be removably mounted in an operative position when said loop is disposed about a supporting structure.

5. A tissue dispenser as set forth in claim 4, wherein said other side is longer than said one side and provided with a slot therein adjacent the lower extremity thereof, said strap extending through said slot to couple said bottom to said other side.

6. A tissue dispenser as set forth in claim 4, wherein is provided means on said other side for varying the effective length of said strap, whereby the size of the loop formed thereby may be varied.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1942 Walker 221- 3/1933 Spain 221-48 

1. A TISSUE DISPENSER COMPRISING: A BOX PROVIDED WITH A PAIR OF OPPOSED SIDES AND AN OPEN END, SAID BOX BEING ADAPTED FOR RECEIVING A NUMBER OF TISSUES THROUGH THE OPEN END THEREOF, ONE OF SAID SIDES HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN PERMITTING ACCESS TO AND REMOVAL OF TISSUES IN SAID BOX; AND A STRAP SECURED AT THE ENDS THEREOF TO THE OTHER OF SAID SIDES TO FORM A LOOP, SAID OTHER SIDE BEING PROVIDED WITH MEANS ADJUSTABLY SECURING ONE END OF SAID STRAP THERETO, WHEREBY THE EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF THE STRAP AND THEREBY THE SIZE OF THE LOOP MAY BE VARIED AND 